How Do You Find Information in the Oracle Documentation Library?

22022011

February 22, 2011

A recent thread in the OTN forums mentioned Metalink (MOS) Doc ID 1203353.1 – “How to find Oracle Database Documentation on OTN Web Site” and lists four easy steps for finding information in the Oracle documentation library, with the starting point being this link. I think that it is great having the list of steps in such as easily read form. There is very useful thread in another OTN forum, and that thread is titled “SQL and PL/SQL FAQ” (I really like this thread, and hope that a similar thread makes its way into the Database – General forum also). Among other helpful topics mentioned in the thread is how to access the Oracle Database Documentation using another website (this is the site that I have seen specified most often as the starting point for accessing the Oracle documentation).

As I mentioned in the first of the above OTN threads, I use a slightly different method to access the Oracle documentation that seems to be a bit more efficient for my needs – Google searches. For example, if I am looking for the definition of V$SESSION_EVENT in a specific Oracle Database release version, I will use the following search keywords:

I have not used the Miracle Finland search engine in quite some time. I heard that Mogens Nørgaard left Miracle Finland, and I suspect that the search engine left with him. There is a similar custom Google search engine on the OakTable website: http://www.oaktable.net/

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<pre>

SQL> SELECT
2 SYSDATE TODAY
3 FROM
4 DUAL;
TODAY
---------
01-MAR-12

</pre>
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SELECT
SYSDATE TODAY
FROM
DUAL;

Is easier to execute in a test case script than this:

SQL> SELECT
2 SYSDATE TODAY
3 FROM
4 DUAL;

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